Lubricating device.



A. C. E. BATEAU. LUBRICATING DEV1GF..

APPLIQ/ATION FILED N0'1'-30, 1908. y 1,125,173. Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

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AUGUSTE C. E. BATEAU, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIG-NOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,T0 RATEAU BATTU SMOOT COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

LUBRICATING DEVICE.

Application filed November 30, 1908.

To all 'Lr/mm it 711.2111/ Concern Be it known that I, AUGUSTE C. E. RA-Tuai, citizen of the Republic of France, residing at laris, France.,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in LubricatingDevices, of which the following is a full. clear. concise, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to a lubricating device, and more particularly to alubricator for high pressure centrifugal pumps.

In high pressure pumps in which the shaft passes through the head of themachine, difiiculty is experienced in maintaining the necessary tightfit of the shaft in the stuffing box at the discharge end. To thisdiiiiculty is added the disadvantage of rapid wear of the shaft due tothe fact that the u'ater discharged by the pump holds a small amount ofsand in suspension. c have avoided these difficulties in theconstruction of high pressure pumps by placing the shaft-bearing at the`discharge end on' the interior of the body of the pump, thus doing awaywith the stuliing box.

My present invention relates to mechanism for lubricating this interiorbearing.

The lubricator of my invention consists of a cylinder from which thelubricating oil or grease is ted by means of a piston working in saidcylinder. l'have in practice obtained thc displacement of the piston bymeans of a hand wheel, and also by means of a small hydraulic motorreceiving its actuating fluid from the pump itself. The firstarrangement has the inconvenience of necessitating the presence of anattendant to operate the hand Wheel; and the second presents theobjection that the hydraulic motor sometimes stops, thereby interruptingthe lubrication. For these reasons I preferably operate the pistonautomatically, through the medium. of-a speed reducing gear the drive ofwhich is dependent upon the drive of the shaft of the pump, as, for

f example, said gear may be driven directly from the shaft of the pumpor from the shaft of the motor that drives the pump.

ln addition to the features above set forth, my invention contemplates aparticular system of gearing by which the piston is operated.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan.1a,1915.

Serial No. 465,158.

A further feature of my invention consists in an arrangement whereby thepressure of the oil or grease is balanced by the pressure ofthe Waterfurnished by the ump.

Still another' feature relates to an automatic uncoupling device forstopping the lubricating `piston when said piston arrives at a pointnear the end of its stroke.

These and other features of my invention may be more readily understoodby reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a sideelevation of a pump and its motor provided with the lubricator of myinvention; Fig. 2 is a detailed longi' tudinal, vertical section, on anenlarged scale, of the lubricator; and Fig. 3 isa detailed end elevationof thel driving gear of the lubricator. i

Similar' reference characters are used to designate similar partswherever they appear.

The high pressure pump 1 is shown as 75 coupled to a motor 2 whichdrives the saine. The shaft-bearing at the discharge end of the pump islocated upon the interior of the pump in the head 3, and hence issubjected to av considerable inner pressure. It is nec- 8'0 essary,therefore, that the lubricant be fedthereinto under pressure. lVith thisend in view the grease or other lubricant is fed thereto through a tube4 provided with a suitable check valve, which tube communi- ,85 cateswith the interior of a cylinder 5 containing said lubricant. The greaseis forced from said cylinder through the tube 4 by means of a. piston 6.The stem 7 of the piston is threaded to receive the screw shaft 8, whichis rotatably mounted in suitable bearings 9, and is arranged to bedriven by a ratchet wheel 10 fixed to said shaft. The rotation of theWheel 10 thus communicates an advance movement to the piston 6 95fthrough the medium of the screw 8.

The rotation of the ratchet Wheel 10 is effected by a pawl 11 (see Fig.3) carried by an eccentric 12 mounted on the countershaft 13. The shaft13`preferably receives 100 its movement through the intermediary of twospeed reducing mechanisms 14, 15,

which may be of any desired type. For eX- ample, the shaft 13 may bedriven through the medium of a worin arranged at the end of the shaft ofthe motor 2, as indicated in the drawings.

IVith the object of reducing to a minimum the force required to drivethe ratchet 10, in its operation of advancing the piston 6, Water underpressure from the pumpis admitted behind the piston head 6 by means of atube 16 connecting the rear of the piston to a point suitably chosen onthe pump. I preferably employ an automatic uncoupling device adapted,when the piston 6 has Completed its forward stroke, to disconnect thesame from the driving action of the countershaft 13, and thereby toavoid the breakage of the parts.

The uncoupling device may consist of a lever 17, journaled on thebearing9, and provided at its outer end With a lateral flange 18adaptediin one position of said lever to be interposed as a barrierbetween the paivl 11 and the teeth of the ratchet wheel 10. Said lever17 is normally under the tension of a spring Q5, Which tends to swingthe lever around so as to interpose the barrier, but is normallyprevented from doing so by a pin 19 projecting in a hole 2O in the lever17. The pin 19 is carried by one end of a rod 21 which is normallypressed forward by the coil spring 24 and the pin 19 is thus held in thehole 20. The opposite end of the rod 21 is provided with an upstandinglug 22 in the path of movement of a lug or screw 23 carried by thepiston stem 7 When the piston arrives toward the end of its stroke, thelug 23 engages the lug 22 and retracts the rod 21, thus withdrawing thepin 19 from the hole 20'. The lever 17 being thereby freed, is actedupon by the spring 18, and is swung from vthe position shown in fulllines in Fig. 3 to the position shown in dotted line therein. In thislatter position the barrier 18 'is interposed between the teeth of theratchet Wheel 10 and the pawl 11. This stops the rotative movement ofthe wheel 10 and in consequence the advance movement of the piston 6.

In pumps designed for very high lifts, for which it is necessary toemploy a large number of Wheels, it has been customary to divide thepump into two sections, arranged one on each side of the motor, withexterior bearings, from which structure it results that the shafttraverses three high pressure heads. The system of lubrication of myinvention above described permits, on the contrary, of putting all thewheels in a single pump body, and, by supporting the shaft upon interiorbearings, the traversal of high pressure heads is avoided.

I claim:

In an automatic lubricator adapted for use With a high pressurecentrifugal pump having a shaft provided with an interior bearing at thedelivery end of said pump, the combination With a cylinder containingthe lubricant, of a feed tube leading from said cylinder to saidinterior bearing, a feed piston Working in said cylinder, a ratchetWheel arranged in its rotation to advance said piston and'thereby forcethe lubricant under pressure into said interior bearing, a countershaftdriven With the pump shaft, an eccentric mounted on said countershaft,

a pawl carried by said eccentric and arranged engage with said ratchetWheel to rotate the same, a barrier, and means automatically operated ata predetermined position of said piston, for inserting said barrierbetween said paw'fl and said ratchet Wheel.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe `my name this 19th day ofNovember, A.. D.

\ y AUGUSTE C. E. BATEAU.

`Witnesses:

`DEAN M. MASON,

JOHN BAKER.

